This ^^ is the bad news. The good news is, over and over again throughout history the Lord has turned seemingly impossible situations into victory for His people. One example is the exodus where Pharaoh and his chariots were racing toward the Israelites in what appeared to be certain slaughter, only to decimate the armies of Pharaoh at the last moment. Here is another situation, again looks like certain disaster turned into victory by the hand of the Lord:
Isaiah 37
Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold
1When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord.
2He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
3They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.
4It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”
5When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah,
6Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’ ”
8When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,
a
was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word:
10“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’
11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?
12Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar?
13Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16“Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
18“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.
19They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.
20Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God.
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”
Sennacherib’s Fall
21Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
“Virgin Daughter Zion
despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
23Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24By your messengers
you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
‘With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest heights,
the finest of its forests.
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
26“Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
27Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched
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before it grows up.
28“But I know where you are
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.
29Because you rage against me
and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.
30“This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:
“This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
32For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
33“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
34By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,”
declares the Lord.
35“I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”
36Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.
So, in spite of the dire situation we find ourselves in we have a choice: 1. stay focused on the problem or 2. focus on the solution. And what is the solution? We who believe turn our faces up toward our God and cry for help. The entire world is under siege by the evil one and his servants the globalists. We need help and that help is not going to come from human hands or effort. This is a spiritual attack, it must be answered with a spiritual defense.
What does the Lord say about our current situation?
Is 7:9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.'"
2 Chron 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
He is not speaking to the wicked here ^^ He is speaking to us. The battle does not belong to the one who throws the first punch it belongs to Him who throws the last (knockout) punch. The world has been punched in the face. America has a bloody nose, but this fight is not over yet. We need to pray. We need to get down on our knees, repent of our sins and call out to the Lord our God for deliverance from this evil attack.
There are something we are left to wonder about and there are some things we know with certainty. One thing this writer knows with certainty is our God answers prayer. More so than ever He answers prayer today. This is one of the most encouraging facts any of us can focus on.
Deut 32:39“See now that I myself am he!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
40I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear:
As surely as I live forever,
41when I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
while my sword devours flesh:
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;
he will take vengeance on his enemies
and make atonement for his land and people.
Mt 21:18Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.
19Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
20When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
21Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.
22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Over the past 4 years the Lord God has set back the Babylonian establishment again and again. First with Brexit, then with Trump and just when movements were starting all over the world (like the yellow vests in France that have also spread all over the world), the enemy launched his counter-attack. Noe re-read this again:
Deut 32:39“See now that I myself am he!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
40I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear:
As surely as I live forever,
41when I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand grasps it in judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and repay those who hate me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
while my sword devours flesh:
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”
If we pray, the Lord will answer and no one in the highest heavens or below the earth can deliver out of His hand what He has set out to do. That is great news. The Lord likes to act at the last minute, that's just how He operates. We have not crossed the point of no return (yet). If we pray, the Lord will respond. There are many reasons the current crisis has been allowed but one of them stands out among the rest: to get our (believers) attention.
Those who belong to this world believe there is nothing they can do to affect what is happening around us. We know better. We who believe move mountains with our prayers. When we join together in prayer we can shake the earth through our Lord who hears and answers. Please join me and all those in the Body of Christ who are praying for deliverance from the hand of the enemy who is currently clutching our throat. The Restrainer is still alive and well on earth and we are part of the restraint that holds the enemy back:
2 Thess 2:7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
Matt 5:13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Salt prevents rot and decay, light prevents darkness. Today is the day to get salty and turn our lights up to 10. Pray, ask, seek, knock and believe you receive what you are asking for in prayer.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
This isn't over until its over. Pray like the enemy has his hand around your throat threatening your very life because that's the situation we all find ourselves in whether we recognize it or not. Be encouraged, the Lord knows exactly what is going on and He has an answer prepared for this mess if we will keep our eyes fixed on Him.
Glory to God
grace and peace
